Saints Scribbles: Dubuque drops opener 3-2 to the Gamblers

By Jack Milewski, 09/29/18, 12:45PM CDT

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Fighting Saints outshoot Green Bay 36-19 in loss

The Dubuque Fighting Saints dropped their first game of the regular season in a hard fought contest against the Green Bay Gamblers. The Saints struck early in the first period on a Chris Lipe goal but the Gamblers quickly answered back. Dubuque fell behind 3-1 after the second period and despite a valiant effort in the third were unable to knot things up. Here are your postgame notes:

-The first goal of the season for Dubuque was a thing of beauty. Verners Egle, Logan Pietila and Lipe teamed up for a gorgeous play. Egle and Pietila played catch along the near side of the ice and after a backhander from Pietila, Lipe cleaned things up with a top shelf beauty.

-Matthew Thiessen was superb in net. He was beaten cleanly by two wicked wristers. The third goal hopped off a Saint in front and past Thiessen after he made a beautiful glove save just earlier.

-The Saints defense as a whole was solid in this one. They allowed 19 shots on net and kept Green Bay to the perimeter for most of the contest. Despite the score, Dubuque dominated chances and controlled zone time, especially in the third period.

-The forecheck was humming as well for the Fighting Saints. Part of the reason why the defense was so good was because of the dominant forecheck. The Saints routinely hemmed Green Bay in to their own zone.

-Riese Gaber was a force on the ice during this one. Even before his goal late in the third period, Gaber was throwing his weight around and making plays. The speedster teamed up with the Jackson twins and gave the Saints quality shift after quality shift.

-It is extremely evident that Dubuque will be able to roll four lines as they please. Every single forward and defenseman was in on a good chance today. The Fighting Saints have a deep team and that depth will certainly help during a long regular season.

-Despite the loss, this was a good start to the season for Dubuque. They hustled, tallied a few goals and showed a lot of the speed and grit the team possesses.

Dubuque will be back on the ice tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET, noon CT for a matchup against the Youngstown Phantoms. You can listen in at DubuqueSuperHits 106.1 FM.